Tracking QoS violated events

Abstract

A method in a network node comprises: detecting a Quality of Service (QoS) Violated Event in respect of a particular QoS flow of a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session; and sending a corresponding QoS violated event report to any one or more of: a Session Management Function (SMF) of the network; a Policy Control Function (PCF) of the network; an Application Function (AF) of the network; and a third party service provider.

I claim: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 sending, to a session management function (SMF) by a policy control function (PCF), a policy associated with an application function (AF) request, the policy indicating the SMF to report a packet delay; 
 according to the policy, requesting an access network (AN) node to report, by the SMF, a packet delay between the AN node and a user equipment (UE); 
 requesting a user plane function (UPF) to report, by the SMF, a packet delay between the AN node and the UPF; 
 receiving, by the SMF the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF; and 
 sending, by the SMF to the AF, a report associated with both the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the report is sent from the SMF to the AF without involving the PCF. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the policy further indicates the SMF to report the packet delay to the AF. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the report is sent from the SMF to the PCF which is configured to send the report to the AF. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the policy further indicates the SMF to report the packet delay to the PCF. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the packet delay includes an uplink packet delay and/or a downlink packet delay. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the policy further indicates how often to report the packet delay, and the SMF sends the report according to the policy. 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the policy further indicates to periodically report the packet delay, and the SMF sends the report periodically. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the policy further indicates to report the packet delay when the packet delay exceeds a threshold, and the SMF sends the report when the packet delay exceeds the threshold. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the policy further indicates to report the packet delay when the PDU session is released, and the SMF sends the report when the PDU session is released. 
     
     
       11. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the AF request is a request for a subscription to a packet delay report. 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the report includes an end-to-end packet delay which is a calculation result of the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF. 
     
     
       13. A system comprising a session management function (SMF) from a policy control function (PCF), wherein
 the PCF is configured to send a policy associated with an application function (AF) request, the policy indicating the SMF to report a packet delay; and 
 the SMF is configured to: 
 receive the policy; 
 according to the policy, request an access network (AN) node to report a packet delay between the AN node and a user equipment (UE); 
 request a user plane function (UPF) to report a packet delay between the AN node and the UPF; 
 receive the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF; and 
 send to the AF, a report associated with both the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF. 
 
     
     
       14. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the policy further indicates the SMF to report the packet delay to the AF, and the SMF is configured to send the report to the AF without involving the PCF. 
     
     
       15. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the policy further indicates the SMF to report the packet delay to the PCF, and the SMF is configured to send the report to the PCF and the PCF is further configured to send the report to the AF. 
     
     
       16. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the packet delay includes an uplink packet delay and/or a downlink packet delay. 
     
     
       17. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the policy further indicates how often to report the packet delay, and the SMF is configured to send the report according to the policy. 
     
     
       18. The system according to  claim 17 , wherein the policy further indicates to report the packet delay in one of following manner: periodically, when the packet delay exceeds a threshold, when the PDU session is released. 
     
     
       19. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the AF request is a request for a subscription to a packet delay report. 
     
     
       20. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the report includes an end-to-end packet delay which is a calculation result of the packet delay between the AN node and the UE and the packet delay between the AN node and the UPF.